Free · No account · Private by design
Tai Chi Coach: Stand Rooted, Move Slowly
Tai Chi Coach watches your stances and slow movements through your camera and checks them against clear, published rules: four stances (standing post, horse stance, bow stance, empty stance) and three movements (commencement, cloud hands, and ward-off, rollback, press). Holds bank good-form seconds only while every rule passes, and movements count only when they are complete and slow. Every mistake gets one named hint within about a second.
Tai Chi Coach is a free web app that coaches tai chi and qigong basics through your device's camera. A small on-device pose tracker checks your form against explicit rules: feet about twice shoulder-width and hips sunk for horse stance, front knee over the ankle with most of the weight forward for bow stance, and a speed meter that only counts movements slower than 1.5 torso lengths per second. When your form breaks, one named hint appears right away, like "Sink a little lower" or "Slow down, let the movement flow". Four stances, three movements, short forms, stance tests, levels, and badges. Everything runs on your device: no video is recorded, uploaded, or sent anywhere. It is a home practice tool, not a teacher.
Open Tai Chi Coach
The four stances
Each stance has measurable rules, scaled to your own body after a quick calibration stand:
- Standing post (hug the tree): feet shoulder-width, knees soft, arms rounded at chest height as if hugging a tree. Face the camera (front view). Bank 20 good-form seconds.
- Horse stance: feet at least twice shoulder-width, hips sunk, weight centred, back upright. Front view. Bank 20 good-form seconds, or 60 in the long version.
- Bow stance: a long step with the camera to your side: front knee bent over the ankle, back leg long, at least 60 percent of your weight on the front leg. Side view.
- Empty stance: a short step with the weight sitting back on the back leg and the front foot light. Side view.
A hold only banks seconds while every rule passes. Stand up too far, drift your weight off centre, or let a knee slide past the ankle, and the bank pauses with one named hint telling you exactly what broke.
The three slow movements
Speed is the whole point of tai chi, so every movement has a minimum time and the app's speed meter watches your hands:
- Commencement (raise the arms): float both arms to shoulder height and sink them back down, at least 4 seconds for the full cycle.
- Cloud hands: shift your weight fully from one foot to the other while your hands follow your waist, at least 1.5 seconds per pass.
- Ward-off, rollback, press: from bow stance, reach forward, sit back and draw the hands in, then press forward with the hands together, at least 1 second per change.
Hand speed is measured over a half-second window. Move faster than 1.5 torso lengths per second and the movement does not count: the app shows "Slow down, let the movement flow". Only complete, slow cycles count.
One named hint per mistake
There are no vague scores. Each rule break maps to a single plain-language hint shown within about a second: "Sink a little lower" when your hips sit too high, "Step your feet wider" when your base is too narrow, "Shift your weight onto your front leg" in bow stance, and "I cannot see your full body: step back" when you drift out of frame. Wrong versions are rejected outright, never half-credited, and the built-in unit tests prove every rule and every hint with simulated bodies, including the wrong versions that must fail.
How the camera sees you
The app uses a small bundled pose tracker (MediaPipe Pose, lite build, about 6 MB) running entirely on your device: 33 body landmarks, no cloud, no account. Front-view items ask you to face the camera; side-view items ask you to turn sideways, and the app reads your facing direction from your nose. The camera runs only while you are on a practice screen. Leave the screen, hide the tab, or close the page, and the camera turns fully off: your browser's camera indicator is the proof, and a page cannot hide it.
Practice, tests and progress
Points unlock harder work: short forms (a stance circuit, a short form, a flowing practice) and strict tests where holds must be unbroken, including a 30-second horse stance test and a slow-movement test where rushed cycles do not count. Four levels, from Rooted Seedling to Mountain Stance, and badges for milestones: First Root, First Flow, Steady Horse, Cloud Walker, Form Complete, Test Passed, and a 7-day streak. Confetti celebrates wins, and you can switch it off. Practice stays the core: the game elements are seasoning.
Your video never leaves your device
Camera frames are measured and immediately discarded. Nothing is recorded, uploaded, or shared. The page security policy blocks connections to every outside server, and the built-in Offline proof panel shows a live log of every network request the page makes, lets you simulate a fully offline session, shows exactly what is stored on your device, and deletes it all with one button. The app works offline after your first visit.
Start practising
Training something else? Tone Trainer coaches Mandarin tones, Fingerspell teaches the ASL alphabet, and Face Switch teaches hands-free face control, all the same private, on-device way.
This is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Everything runs on your device: no video, audio or images are sent anywhere. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a qualified tai chi or qigong instructor, linked on the Resources page. Clear the space around you, and check with a doctor first if you have knee, hip, back or other joint problems.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tai Chi Coach?
A free web app that coaches tai chi and qigong basics through your device's camera. It checks your stances and slow movements against explicit, published rules, shows one named hint per mistake within about a second, and tracks points, levels, and badges. Everything runs on your device. It is a home practice tool, not a teacher.
Which stances and movements does it teach?
Four stances: standing post (hug the tree), horse stance, bow stance, and empty stance, each banked in good-form seconds. Three movements: commencement (raise the arms), cloud hands, and the ward-off, rollback, press sequence, each counted only when complete and slow. Short forms combine them into flowing practice.
How does the speed meter work?
The app measures your hand speed over a half-second window. Move faster than 1.5 torso lengths per second and the movement does not count, with the hint "Slow down, let the movement flow". Each movement also has a minimum time: 4 seconds per commencement cycle, 1.5 seconds per cloud hands pass, 1 second per ward-off, rollback, or press change.
What do I need to practise?
A device with a camera and enough room to stand with your arms out and take a long step. Front-view items (standing post, horse stance, commencement, cloud hands) need you facing the camera; side-view items (bow stance, empty stance, ward-off, rollback, press) need the camera to your side. Clear the space around you before you start.
How does it tell me what I am doing wrong?
Each rule break maps to a single plain-language hint shown within about a second: "Sink a little lower", "Step your feet wider", "Shift your weight onto your front leg", "Slow down, let the movement flow". Wrong versions are rejected outright, never half-credited.
Does my video leave my device?
No. Camera frames are measured on your device and immediately discarded. Nothing is recorded, uploaded, or shared. The page security policy blocks connections to every outside server, and the Offline proof panel shows the live request log to prove it.
Does it work offline?
Yes, after your first visit. The app and the bundled pose tracker are saved on your device, so everything keeps working with no network. The Offline proof panel even lets you simulate a fully offline session.
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Open Offline proof on the home page and press Delete all my data, or clear progress from the dashboard. Everything is stored only in your browser, on your device.
What are the tests like?
Strict versions of the practice items: holds must be unbroken (a fault resets the streak), including a 30-second horse stance test and a slow-movement test where rushed or incomplete cycles do not count. Passing earns the Test Passed badge.
Is this a substitute for a real teacher?
No. It is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist, or safety device. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a qualified tai chi or qigong instructor, linked on the app's Resources page.
Who is it for, and is it safe for my joints?
Anyone curious about tai chi or qigong basics who wants honest, private feedback on stances and slow movement at home. Check with a doctor first if you have knee, hip, back, or other joint problems, and come up out of a stance any time your knees complain.
How is the app itself tested?
Every rule and every hint is proven by the built-in unit test suite, which feeds simulated bodies through the real rules: correct forms that must pass and wrong versions that must be rejected with the right named hint. A fake-camera smoke check also proves zero network requests leave the page.